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Navigon 2200T

The Navigon 2200T isn't the slickest or most feature-packed GPS product on the block, but it delivers decent navigation and lifetime traffic service for an extremely low price.

The 2200T lists for $230, but you can find it online for closer to $200--several hundred dollars less than some of the high-end GPS devices we recently looked at. And that price includes a traffic transmitter and integrated lifetime traffic service--a feature that many GPS products (even the pricey, full-featured ones) lack. One caveat: Unlike some GPS models, the 2200T does not factor traffic incidents into its initial route planning, but it will notify you if an incident impacts your route and present rerouting options.

But other than its lifetime traffic service, the 2200T is a basic GPS. It features a fairly small, but readable, 3.5-inch screen. Its included maps are of the 48 contiguous U.S. states only; most competitors include maps of Canada as well as Alaska and Hawaii.

The 2200T is a slick-looking, compact device that will easily fit in your pocket when you leave the car. Its external good looks, however, don't carry over to its interface, which is rather dark and not as attractive as competing units from TomTom and Garmin. Navigating through the 2200T's menus and settings is not always intuitive; I had difficulty figuring out how to return to the home screen and cancel a route, for example. Both required several taps--in places I didn't necessarily expect--making both processes more difficult than they should be. But once you get used to its quirks, it's easy enough to use. Like all of the GPS units we tested for this roundup, it includes text-to-speech capability, which means that it pronounces street names for you.

The 2200T includes Navigon's Reality View and Lane Assistant Pro features, which show you the road as it actually looks, and tell you which lane you should be traveling in, respectively. These capabilities come in very handy, especially when you're making your way through unfamiliar roads.